Such a system is known from WO 03/076267 A1 to the same applicant. This system, which is described by the example of a plane, includes an external conveyor apparatus which as a rule comprises a mobile handling machine. The conveyor apparatus further traditionally includes a conveyor belt or several consecutive conveyor belts which are arranged on the handling machine and serve as a transport organ for loose cargo such as boxes, suitcases, bags, etc. This transport organ is supplied in the range of the tarmac level with the loose cargo which is then conveyed during loading to a cargo hold opening of the plane. To this end, the mobile handling machine is positioned such that the transport organ reaches as far as into the range of the cargo hold opening without, however, protruding into the latter, so as to avoid damage to the fuselage. For adaptation to various types of planes, the transport organ is moreover adjustable at least in its inclination.
In this known loading system, an intermediate conveyor means is furthermore placed on the external conveyor apparatus and reaches into the cargo hold of the plane. This intermediate conveyor means may be attached in the plane or at the external conveyor apparatus. By means of this intermediate conveyor means the loose cargo may be conveyed into the cargo hold and taken to a desired position there, so that fully automated or at least semi-automated conveying—which generally only requires no more than a single person—is possible. Thanks to this known system, planes may be loaded and unloaded within a very short time. In addition, however, this system may also be employed in other applications such as in loading railroad freight cars, containers, or the like.
Despite the many advantages of this known system, particularly with a view to the reduced time required for the loading and unloading process, as well as the reduced number of required personnel, it was nevertheless found that it is susceptible to improvement: Thus it may sometimes happen in particular with loose cargo having sharp edges or corners, such as chests or boxes, that these get caught on the side of the intermediate conveyor means facing the conveyor apparatus and cannot get onto the conveying side of the intermediate conveyor means without additional manual intervention. The cause of this problem is inherent in the system insofar as the intermediate conveyor means is placed on the transport side of the conveyor apparatus and, as it naturally has to have a certain height, a corresponding difference in height has to be overcome. Conventional hard suitcases, travelling bags, etc. are provided with edges that are usually sufficiently rounded so as to readily overcome this “step.” In the case of loose cargo having distinct edges, however, this is not always true. This initially has the result of a transport backup, whereby the advantages with regard to the reduced time required during loading of the cargo hold are diminished, and which must frequently be eliminated manually. In addition such a transport backup implies the risk of single pieces of loose cargo possibly being pushed laterally off the transport organ by following objects, so that they may fall off and thus be damaged. Moreover this may also lead to a risk for persons present in this area.